Saturday, October 15, 2005

Judy "I Cannot Recall" Miller Speaks

At long last, both the New York Times and Judy Miller break their silence on their involvement in the Plame-name leak investigation. In a monstrous article (nearly 6,000 words) team-written by Don Van Natta Jr., Adam Liptak and Clifford Levy, the paper of record lays out its own anxieties about the case even as it tries to fill in the gaps in the story. Nearby, Ms. Miller provides a first-hand account of her own testimony before the grand jury, in which we learn that she "cannot recall" who first gave her the name of Joseph Wilson's wife. The WaPo summarizes both articles here.

I agree with Joe Gandelman: "File this one in the Hmmmmmmmmmm Department." It seems incredibly fishy to think that she wouldn't remember who told her the name (although since the name appears in her notes as both Valerie Flame and Victoria Wilson, maybe her hearing and/or memory aren't really all that great in the first place). Is she covering for someone? Is "I cannot recall" her way of "not revealing her source"? Who knows. Maybe someday we'll find out for sure. But neither of these two articles give us much new to go on. Let the waiting continue.

2 Comments:

Miller was being duped by the Bush administration all along. First, as an embedded reporter, her editors reassigned her because her articles about Iraq contained so many errors (or disinformation).

What is clear from Miller's own account of her testimony is that the administration (through Scooter) was hoping to use her again to discredit CIA's efforts to disseminate material contrary to the administration's conclusions that were foisted upon them.

It is also clear that she let the Grand Jury know that she was sympathetic to Scooter Libby by playing stupid in her interpretation of the Aspen tree root metaphor.

About Me

Reviews of books old and new; news and commentary on book history, library culture, digital humanities, archives and related subjects. Written by Jeremy Dibbell, a bibliophile, haunter of used bookstores, and Director of Communications and Outreach for Rare Book School. Email: philobiblos@gmail.com.